Believe

“What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” –Napoleon Hill

The above quote was one of Bo’s favorites. When one believes, everything’s possible.

In the 16 seasons between 1985 and 2000, Michigan won 12, Ohio State won 3 and they tied in 1992. Michigan’s football team believed it could—and would—beat Ohio State.

Then, Jim Tressel happened.

In 2000, at the OSU basketball game where Tressel was introduced as the new football coach at Ohio State, he famously asserted that “I’m proud of our young people (at OSU) in the classroom, in the community, and most especially, in 310 days, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the football field.” The Buckeye crowd of course, went NUTS! While he didn’t guarantee a Buckeye victory over Michigan in 2001, he strongly implied it.

Whatever issues we Michigan fans may have with Jim Tressel, he single-handedly brought back belief to OSU nation that Ohio State football not only could—but would—beat Michigan again. And so they have.

In the 17 seasons, 2001 through 2017, OSU has won 14 (OSU vacated the 2010 win due to self-imposed sanctions over NCAA violations). Michigan has won 2.

In those 17 seasons, Ohio State didn’t just thinkthey could win, they believedthey would win.

Michigan on the other hand seemed to approach most of those games hopingthey could win, thinkingthey could win, but not necessarily believingthey would win.

Nothing lasts forever.

Michigan’s run of dominance over Ohio State ended. The Detroit Lions eventually beat the Packers in Green Bay. The City of Detroit is making an impressive comeback I personally doubted would ever happen. The great depression eventually came to an end.

Now that Coach Harbaugh is here and has had the time to fully implement his vision and version of Michigan football, it appears Michigan believes again.

The emerging truth seems to be that Coach Harbaugh has put finally put together the kind of team—but more importantly—the kind of program, that can end the Buckeye’s dominance.

Don't let this post distract you from the fact that Delaney and Da Boyz prevented a Michigan win in Columbus during 2016's edition of The Game.

OSU slappy refs, AKA "da boyz", called phantom penalties on Michigan, gave celebratory taps on the asses of OSU players, and, infamously, placed the ball slightly past the marker on a game ending, overtime stop on fourth down, otherwise known as "The Spot". This led to yet another OSU win, missing out on possible program changing implications for Michigan, and bitter disappointment.

Tressel's teams beat Michigan because they played better football. Period.

All this hoo-ha about belief and confidence is putting the cart fifty yards in front of the horse. Belief and confidence that isn't preceded by solid excellence in the fundamentals of football is nothing more than planting a spike in the ground without being able to back it up. Achievement comes first.

Bo Schembechler and his teams were notoriously confident, but that's because the players worked their asses off in practice while being drilled by great assistants like Jerry Hanlon, Jim Young, Bill McCartney, and Gary Moeller.

This year's team is confident because they work their asses off in practice while being drilled by great assistants like Don Brown, Ed Warinner, Greg Mattison, and Mike Zordich, and the results of that hard work are evident in the games.